Moms and babies should never be separated after birth, and we should not leave new moms alone, ever, according to Nils Bergman, M.D. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
Nils Bergman, M.D., is a Public Health Physician, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and a research affiliate of the South African Medical Research Council. Dr. Bergman was born in Sweden and raised in Zimbabwe, where he later worked as a mission doctor. He received his medical degree from the University of Cape Town, and a Masters in Public Health from the University of the Western Cape.
During his years in Zimbabwe he completed a doctoral dissertation (equivalent to a Ph.D.) on scorpion stings. He has worked in rural South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Sweden, and was most recently Senior Medical Superintendent of Mowbray Maternity Hospital in Cape Town, where he oversaw 18,000 births a year.
On October 13, Nils Bergman held a pre-conference workshop as part of the BirthWorks International Conference “Finding the TRUTHS About Birth,” October 14-16, 2016. Cathy Daub, the founder of BirthWorks, attended the conference. She generously agreed to summarize his talk: “Why mothers and babies should not be separated after birth.”
Immediately putting a newborn baby to the breast has lifelong physical and psychological benefits. Babies and mothers should not be separated after birth, even for a few minutes. Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Babies and Mothers Should NOT Be Separated After Birth. Here’s Why
By Cathy Daub
Listening to Nils Bergman speak during the BirthWorks full-day preconference workshop, the audience of nurse midwives, doulas, medical doctors, and other birth professionals and I found ourselves taken quickly and deeply into two of the ancient truths Dr. Bergman wanted us to understand. Dr. Bergman had the audience repeat them again and again:
1. Zero separation after birth
2. We should never leave the mother alone
These two phrases are now etched into our brains. We will not forget them. As we ponder their meaning, we arrive at deeper levels of understanding about how crucial zero separation, not being separated after birth, and never leaving the mother alone, are for the health of the mother and baby at birth. And even into adulthood.
Yes, there are long-term consequences to what happens to a baby in this primal period from conception to the end of the first year of life.
Dr. Bergman began his talk by stating that much of science is based on assumptions, and that these assumptions are sometimes incorrect.
Are incubators safe?
We assume, for example, that hospital incubators are safe for preterm infants.
Newborns swaddled and sleeping alone in the nursery at the Cairns General Hospital Eleven Mile Corner, Arizona. Is it safe for newborns to be separated after birth, without their mothers, deprived of human contact? Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
But, according to Dr. Bergman, extensive evidence shows that preterm infants perceive incubators as life threatening. Being in an incubator has a negative effect on an infant’s brain.
Dr. Bergman said that the environment influences everything; the optimal environment for the baby is on his mother’s chest, skin-to-skin, not in an incubator far from her comforting touch, voice, and smell.
The environment controls the epigenetic switch in the genes and determines how proteins are made during development, including those that make neurons.
Dr. Bergman said we must understand what is going on in the infant brain.
He said there are more synapses in the brain of a newborn baby than there are stars in the galaxy.
Every baby is born with the full potential of the universe!
In fact, half of what is interesting in the brain, happens before birth. At 28 weeks gestation, the last neurons are born. After that time, the brain grows by developing circuits between the neurons; memory is stored–not in the neurons but in the circuits.
A newborn’s brain is fully functional
By the time a baby is born, the brain is fully functional.
Repeated hard firing is necessary to connect one neuron to another. Baby kittens born without Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep are born blind because REM sleep fires the retina. It is repeated firing that makes circuits that make sight possible in kittens.
Sleep cycling in humans occurs only in skin-to-skin contact, and this is when the brain is being wired. We need sleep cycling to have brain maturity.
Another phrase Dr. Bergman repeated is “The mother should never be left alone,” meaning that while she has her baby skin-to-skin, she herself should always have company of another safe adult, the baby’s father, or a safe and loving family member.
It is the maternal sensations that help regulate the baby’s brain.
The mother precisely controls every element of her infant’s physiology, including its heart rate, release of hormones, appetite, and intensity of activity. Dr. Bergman (drawing on the work of Myron Arms Hofer) said this creates an invisible hothouse in which the infant’s development can unfold.
The mother must feel safe, protected, and relaxed in order to keep the baby feeling safe, protected, and relaxed.
Bergman asked us, “When does an infant become conscious?”
My mother was born in 1922.
In her generation, there was a belief that babies didn’t know very much at birth, that they weren’t very conscious.
But Dr. Bergman explained that at the moment of birth, nothing is as conscious as a newborn baby and the first hours after birth are a critical period for activating the baby’s neuronal connections in order for the brain to grow.
Being separated after birth causes harm
Being separated after birth is life threatening to the baby because it causes dysregulation in the body physiology, and social withdrawal in the brain, which, when prolonged, becomes permanent, as evidenced by decreased play and slouched posture.
Physiological disturbance in the regularity of heart rate, body temperature, sleep patterns, cortisol secretions and a weakening of the immune system follow.
Being separated after birth causes stress. This stress leads to the production of the stress hormone, cortisol, which impacts epigenetics or gene expression. In turn this influences how the DNA makes its protein.
Dr. Bergman then approached the question of “Should neonates sleep alone?”
His answer was an emphatic “No! Zero separation after birth is the science.”
Research shows the presence of a doula increases oxytocin and decreases fetal distress. The mere presence of oxytocin proves the mother feels safe.
In fact, it is the sense of safety that makes the oxytocin. Oxytocin and dopamine (pleasure hormone) circuits need to connect together.
Dr. Bergman showed a slide indicating that a midwife helps to decrease cortisol, the doula helps to increase oxytocin, and the father helps to increase dopamine in the woman in labor.
New moms must not be alone
Dr. Bergman stressed that “The mother must never be alone,” and also that the first 1,000 minutes are crucial for the physical and emotional health of the mother and baby.
We’ve all seen or heard about the back to sleep campaigns from the CDC and the AAP. But Dr. Bergman’s research shows that putting babies on their back to sleep (“supine sleep”) may not be optimal.
His research showed different measures of sympathetic stress in babies sleeping on their backs. He said that babies separated after birth do not sleep.
Being separated after birth from the mother disturbs infant sleep. For the brain to mature there needs to be sleep cycling. Supine sleep comes with no sleep cycling and in fact profoundly disrupts sleep cycling.
Bergman claimed that a baby lying on his back may look like he is sleeping but he really isn’t because how can anyone sleep when in a stressed state!
I asked Dr. Bergman after the conference if that applies to adolescents and adults as well and he responded that there is some research to support that it does.
He explained that with supine sleep, you get parasympathetic shut down and the parallel increase in sympathetic tone. This does not happen normally. So it keeps the baby awake and increases REM sleep, which does not allow for healthy sleep cycling and resulting brain maturity.
Separation after birth disturbs sleep and you get a cortisol effect.
Thinking about the long-term effects of after-birth experiences
Both Nils Bergman and obstetrician and childbirth expert Michel Odent, M.D., said that we have to learn to think long-term. Michel Odent, M.D. also spoke at the conference.
The risk of suppression or disruption of needed neural processes is very significant and potentially lasts a life time. The work of Stanley Graven, M.D., a professor at the University of San Francisco, shows this. If we interfere with infant and toddler sleep, we can interfere with the orexin circuits by methylation. And methylation is the very mechanism that makes our neurodevelopment possible. Sleep is that important.
Dr. Bergman then described autism as a condition of the “connectome,” where networks in the brain that are supposed to connect fail to do so. When a baby lies on her back, in a stressed state, the brain can’t establish a sleep/wake cycle. Because of this, the brain can’t mature normally.
He said that autism is hard to develop because the body has a first line of defense against adverse gene expression. But when that line of defense is gone, the gene can be expressed.
Therefore, if there’s a genetic code for autism, it may not be expressed unless the first line of defense is gone. We might just lose that first line of defense when parents put their babies to sleep on their backs (supine).
Dr. Bergman went on to say that with autism, the common denominator is a dysfunctional Fusiform Gyrus and the prefrontoorbital area of the brain.
There is abnormal functional connectivity of the default mode sub-networks in autism with a disruption of the orbital frontal oxytocin and dopamine circuits. Supine sleep has increased the incidence of specific particular autistic criteria in the population.
Dr. Bergman has a way of saying something so we won’t forget it.
Mammals don’t sleep on their backs
He mentioned that no mammals lie their babies on their backs to sleep!
As humans are mammals, it is not natural for us to lie on our backs as babies either.
This information comes at a time when the SIDS Task Force is recommending that mothers lie their babies on their backs, in order to reduce the incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Dr. Bergman showed a graph of five countries: Denmark, United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and the USA. These countries began anti SIDS campaigns by telling mothers to lie their babies on their backs.
The results?
A four-fold increase in the rate of autism with a decrease in the rate of SIDS. Dr. Bergman explained that SIDS is a defect in the gasp reflex, which is actually quite rare.
Supine sleep reduces SIDS, but does it increase autism?
Supine sleep does reduce SIDS. But supine sleep is a stressor that may carry a side effect—autism in those babies who have susceptible genes. Remember that the incidence of SIDS is very rare. It was 1, and is now 0.5/1000 babies. Although he acknowledges that autism is not a new phenomenon, Dr. Bergman suggested that perhaps the very thing, SIDS, that we are trying to decrease, has the side effect of increasing autism.
He said: “The result is that treating the whole population by encouraging supine sleep, may result in a rare side effect (autism) becoming more common than the disease (SIDS) being treated.”
Dr. Bergman accepted that before the 1990s autism was a known brain disorder. But, he said, you need a lot of gene problems to get autism and then you need to activate all of these genes. In fact, he said it is difficult to get autism. Epigenetics or environmental influences can result in network disruption that activates genes with autism. If you don’t have these genes, he said, you can’t get autism.
But supine sleep is a stressor!
It is an epigenetic phenomenon of sleep disturbance—a late insult.
Skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding, vaginal birth, co-sleeping, and bonding are all compensatory mechanisms that can buffer autistic gene expression.
Dr. Bergman described resilience as the capacity to maintain healthy emotional functioning in the aftermath of stressful experiences.
When infants are in stressed states, they develop an allostatic overload that can result in disease.
And yet there is resilience because first the infant must develop susceptibility.
One infant may have more resilience than another.
However when looking at an entire population, Dr. Bergman said we will see poorer health in the presence of allostatic load allostasis.
Dr. Bergman said that the health of a population 30 years from now is directly related to perinatal care.
Zero separation is a public health message. Babies and mothers should not be separated after birth.
The fetus asks “Am I safe?”
If the answer is “Yes” then the body produces oxytocin.
But when the fetus feels unsafe, s/he produces vasopressin, a stress hormone, and then cortisol.
When asked, “How long to keep skin-to-skin contact with the mother and her baby?” Bergman replied, “Until the baby tells you ‘I’ve had enough.’”
Dr. Bergman emphasized again and again that maternal/infant separation has NO scientific foundation.
The newborn’s environment IS the mother.
The baby is 100% dependent on his mother.
Even a one-year-old is 99% dependent on his mother.
The baby depends on his mother for sensory social stimulation.
Preterm separation totally deprives the baby of every single maternal input that feeds the baby’s physical psychological, and neurological development.
The absence of buffering protection of adult support equals toxic stress.
Kangaroo care (which is just another way of saying mother-baby skin-to-skin contact) and oxytocin are direct opposites to mother-baby separation and the production of the stress hormones including cortisol.
Maternal separation is toxic stress.
Bergman emphasized that zero separation, not separated after birth, is our biology.
In other words, the scientific basis of Kangaroo Mother Care (when a human mom carries a baby skin-to-skin in a front pouch or sling) is neuroscience based on 50 years of mammalian/private research and ten years of modern neuroscientific research.
Skin-to-skin contact must start at birth and must be a continuum without separation.
Five (5) key benefits to skin-to-skin contact. Skin-to-skin:
- Assures safe neuroception
- Regulates basic physiology
- Provides positive sensations
- Organizes states (sleep and feed
- Optimizes bonding and attachment
To make his point Dr. Bergman quoted sleep expert James J McKenna, Ph.D., “There is no such thing as infant sleep. There is no such thing as breastfeeding. There is only ‘breast sleeping.’”
We must work together, talking and educating parents and involving parents in the safe care for their babies.
The mother should never be alone; zero separation after birth is the science.
The truth is that the human body is wiser than we think. For example, a cesarean baby suckles long before a vaginal birth baby, even suckling with mom on the surgical table while she is being stitched up.
This suckling helps to control the bleeding.
There is an innate wisdom that we can trust.
Perinatal health targets
Finally, Bergman ended his workshop with three targets upon which perinatal health care could focus to protect the otherwise healthy newborn:
- Safe early skin-to-skin contact in the delivery room
- Breastfeeding established in first days of life
- Secure positioning of infants during sleep
Dr. Nils Bergman, M.D., presenting about the importance of skin-to-skin contact and zero separation at BirthWorks International’s annual conference. Photo courtesy of Cathy Daub
According to Dr. Nils Bergman, what happens in the first few hours and days of an infant’s life has a lasting impact on his brain. Babies and mothers should not be separated after birth. Photo courtesy of Cathy Daub
Dr. Nils Bergman and Cathy Daub, founder of BirthWorks. Photo courtesy of Cathy Daub
About the author: Cathy Daub is a physical therapist who has worked with special needs children over the last 30 years. She is founder, designer, and president of BirthWorks International, a nonprofit organization with certification programs for childbirth educators, birth doulas, postpartum doulas and their new ACED (Accelerated Childbirth Education Doula) program. The mother of two, Cathy is also the author of Birthing in the Spirit, which offers a human values approach to childbirth.
First published: November 30, 2016
Last updated: January 4, 2023
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This work just re-enforces the evidence that newborn adoption is extremely damaging to the child. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pX4C-mtiI
“Therefore, if there is a genetic code for autism, it may not be expressed unless the first line of defense is gone. That first line of defense just might be lying a baby on his/her back, or supine.”
This reads like supine position *is* the first line of defense, but your previous paragraph contradicts that. Is this what you meant to say? I’d love to share this article, but not with conflicting information.
Thank you for pointing that out. I’ve asked Cathy Daub and Dr. Nils Bergman to clarify and we will get this fixed ASAP.
Only one correction needed here. Autism is NOT caused by “bad genes” . It is the combination of the atrocity of factory childbirth at the Sick Bay –the absolute worst , most dangerous place on earth for any woman to deliver !!! — and , por supuesto , each and every one of those VILE VIALS no parent with any self- respect and courage would ever allow to be shot into their most precious . The key genetic factor in both that labelled autism and so-called auto-immune disorders is the METHYLATION STATUS of the person . The half of the population with some form of impairment in self-methylating require methyl donors in order to detox the sludge residue , whereas the other half can at least methylate 24/7 , thus allowing significant detox to happen .
Thanks for pointing out that error. It is corrected now, Ann.
Be nice if social workers and adoption pushers would take this information into account before taking newborns from their mothers for specious reasons.
True but they take them away I lost my newborn when she was 2 weeks and one day old
Yes not good lost mine too got taken by a doctor who assaulted me in the hospital at Coffs Harbour hospital sh put my baby into the care of the mister after the assault fighting for her to return to me
OMG . That behavior is beyond despicable ! Yet another reason we must boycott these institutions for birthing , oncology slaughtering , and nearly everything else save for the ER .
I agree.I have ptsd brought on threw s.services
Sadly, NICU’S and the adoption industry have not caught up with human rights/needs and this scientific evidence.
As a foster parent I have spent a lot of time at the NICU to cuddle premature drug babies who are fed, swaddled and left in a silent room in incubators until the next feeding with no one to hold or talk to them. We were only allowed to hold the newborns we were assigned to by the state of Alaska. It breaks my heart that this practice continues today. The little ones who need it the most are ignored the most.
Just want to give you a big thank you for posting this. As an attachment parenting mother to 3, an adoptee who lost her mother at birth, a seeker of truth and someone who rarely goes a long with conventional medicine… a really big thank you your way. I needed this today. It eases my heart that what i’ve been doing and saying for so long… actually has more proof behind it now than just my gut instincts.
When children are taken by forced means it brings serious disharmony all around the world.
Forced Adoption
Forced Fostering
Must stop!
This article hurts my heart. As a mother who suffered severe postpartum hemorrhage, I had no choice but to be separated from my child. In fact, because I was in the ICU, I was separated from her for two days. People have told me that she won’t remember any of that any way. But I wasn’t quite so sure and this research confirms with what I already felt. So what can we do to counteract these early separations?
There are times when babies do need to be separated from their mothers for reasons beyond anyone’s control and when the safety of the mother and/or baby is at stake. My heart goes out to you Marie for what you have suffered. You are right, you had no choice. Your instincts are correct – we all have memories of things that happen to us in our lives from the time we are born, because they are our experiences. The very early experiences are usually buried and may or may not come to conscious awareness with age. But we must never underestimate the power of love. While you were in the ICU, your baby felt your love energy because you are very connected. And it is the power of love that can overcome anything. Just keep pouring your love on your baby and as she gets older and can understand, tell her what happened and how much you loved her through it all. She will understand and both of you will heal together.
Dear Marie, sorry for the delayed response. I just today heard back from Dr. Bergman. Here is his response:
“‘Toxic stress’ must be prolonged, and there is in built protection against single knocks. But indeed, there may be scars, in the form of bad memories. Treating those scars requires extra extra love, you can never over-love a baby, this will never ‘spoil it.’
“Even a toddler benefits from skin to skin contact at times, and co-sleeping, and prolonged breastfeeding, beyond two years. And verbalise all this to the infant and toddler over time.”
I am the mother of an 18 year old who was separated from me at birth (born via C-section) due to a genetic condition that made him have to be rushed to Children’s Hospital. I could not hold him for almost 1 week. I will tell you that he has struggled his whole life with anger issues and I only recently, as nurse now myself, put two and two together to realize his birth has most definitely played a factor.
Marie, I know your pain so well. I experienced something very very similar. I ended up in emergency, life saving surgery, my daughter taken from my body in what seemed an abrupt and forceful(though, necessary) procedure. I got to see her for about five seconds. I wasn’t allowed to hold her. She stopped breathing, she was 6 weeks early. She was taken to NICU, she trained there for 9 days. I wasn’t able to see her for 14 hours. She was declining quickly. Doctors kept telling me I’ll be lucky if she makes it. My little brother, I believe saved both of our lives. He unhooked from everything and said, “fuck it you can’t walk and they won’t get you a wheel chair, I’ll carry you to her.”. He pulled my heart monitor first, so nurses came running in. They laughed, said u was stubborn and then took me to see my daughter. I argued until they let me hold her. I was in intensive care for a few days and discharged 8 days later.
My daughter remained in an incubator vthat entire time +1day. My heart broke, I attachment patented as much as possible after that. I was blessed to still get a robust milk supply.
So 8 YEARS (she’s 8 now) down the road, were extremely close and well bonded. She’s testing into 4th grade in terms of reading, math and writing, she’s only in second grade. She’s extremely loving to everyone, but especially her 9 month old little brother. She’s athletic also and has an amazing sense of humor.
I want to tell you everything will be OK. Stop reading the research h until you have another child and listen to your heart. Because honestly other women’s birth stories and all the research hurt my heart, but the fact is I couldn’t have changed anything. Listen to the part of your heart that knows how much you love your daughter. Listen to the strength in yourself that got you though something so difficult. Use all that and focus towards the future and the now and love yourself. Forgive yourself and your body for its “shortcomings” (at least that’s how I viewed myself) and love the string mother that you are. You earned this relationship with your daughter and survived something so tough. Reward yourself! I promise you as you watch your child grow you see you’ve shown s much love and given so much energy and time and bonding that it will be obvious. Your hold will only know the love and dedication you give, remember that when you look at all the research.
I cosleep with my baby girl. She breastfeeds on and off though out the night as she see fit. I always have her sleep her side. You talk about skin to skin, I wear a shirt that I pull up to make it possible for her to latch on and breast feed when ever she wants and she always wears a shirt. Now here face often rest on my bare breast is this consider true skin to skin? Or because she wears a shirt and so most of her is not directly against me this is not true skin to skin? Thanks
Rainy–that certainly provides some skin-to-skin. It’s also good to have her shirtless (or even naked) and hold her on your bare chest, so you both get more skin-to-skin exposure. But you don’t have to do that at night, since you’re both busy sleeping. Holding her to your chest during the day is good too!
Hi there,
I really enjoyed this article. Thank you for sharing the information. One question, does Dr. Bergman recommend sleeping side laying or on tummies for babies or either is good?
Dr. Bergman has a theory- and it is only a theory – that it may be a defect in the gasp reflex that causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and this is rare. From my physical therapy perspective, babies lying on their tummies have to lift their heads to turn side to side and this stimulates the extensor muscles through the body which are needed to begin developing antigravity positions, precursors to creeping and walking. If the baby is compromised i.e. very weak, it is better to lie him on his side propped with a pillow from the back. However, the sidelying position is a good position for any baby.
Once a person is I. The system they watch everything. Even if the doctor says the baby is ok
I agree.I have ptsd brought on threw s.services. my children are damaged forever infact our whole lifes are.all siblings separted. Gagging order placed on me
It improves sleep time for both mom and the baby. Love your article!
I found this article while searching for effects of adopted newborns taken immediately from B-moms at birth. I am 50 and found my B-mom 20 years ago. She told me that the moment I was born, I was taken out of the room and she never even saw me. I have issues at night. I can’t go to sleep without assistance from OTC drugs, etc…the only time I feel safe and happy going to bed at night is when I am in a relationship and have a body next to me.
Coincidence?
What are the medical conditions that can lead to immediate separation of mother and child after delivery?
I think with the way things are going at hospitals for moms giving birth more mom’s are going to get fed up and when possible give birth at a birthing center with a midwife if that is safer or give birth at home with a midwife!